Your views: Letters to the editor

As a New Hartford Senior High School student, I have always been taught that diversity and tolerance is a good thing. I believe this and I try my best to always be tolerant of others.

I think the school should do more than just teach kids to be tolerant of other races and religions. I believe students should be taught to be tolerant of one another.

I know cliques exist. Walking down the hallway can be very uncomfortable when you can see a stereotypical group that you don’t belong to. You don’t know if the people in the group will accept you for who you are.

It isn’t until you join your own social group that you feel comfortable. When kids are ridiculed day after day in school, it can lead to terrible events like school shootings.

Schools need to work with parents to teach students to be more tolerant of one another.

IAN CLARK
New Hartford

New York state is not the place to settle down

New York is one of the wealthiest states in the union and one of the most taxed. How does this happen?

Every accountant, budget analyst or financial planner the state employs should be fired. Had no one seen this coming? A $15 billion deficit does not come overnight. Years of overspending and ignorance has put us in this position.

Now what? Raising taxes, layoffs, hiring freezes and trying to make Indian nations pay taxes when they never have in the first place. This sort of fiscal policy and mismanagement is certainly not an incentive to continue to live in the area.

As a young person who is looking to advance, it is becoming clear that New York is not the place to be.

I would much rather settle in a state that can successfully balance its checkbook and offer a secure future for a family — not one where my governor has to beg for government bailouts and embarrass us all.